Drawer support structure for refrigerator cabinet



June 12, 1962 A. E. CYRUS 3,038,774

DRAWER SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed Jan. 8, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ALVA E. CYRUS TOR DRAWER SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed Jan. 8, 1960 A. E- CYRUS June 12, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ALVA E. CYRUS ATTORNEY Waited rates Patent 3,038,774 Patented June 12, 1962 free 3,938,774 DRAWER SUPPORT STRUCTURE FQR REFREGERATOR CABENET Alva E. Cyrus, (Iolumbus, Ohio, assignor to Westinghouse Electric (Iorporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Fiied Jan. 3, 1960, Ser. No. 1,281 6 Claims. (Cl. 312-35ti) This invention relates to cabinet structures and more particularly to drawer mounting arrangements for cabinets, especially spaced wall cabinets such as those employed as domestic refrigerators.

It can be readily appreciated that the usefulness of cabinet drawer structures is dependent upon the ease with which the drawer may be moved into and out of its cabinet and upon the reliability of the supporting structure which enables the drawer to be moved. Extensible sliding, or rolling, trackways have been developed through the years which have greatly improved the reliability and ease of operation of drawer structures, even heavily laden drawers. These extensible supporting systems require, however, a fairly high degree of accuracy in the spacing and interfitting of their several parts in order to insure that they operate with the ease of which they are capable. Particularly critical in such arrangements is the spacing and parallelism of the stationary support tracks, or trackways, which in most arrangements are disposed within the cabinet at each side of the movable drawer structure.

This problem of maintaining alignment, or parallelism, of the drawer trackways is particularly acute with respect to drawer structures for domestic refrigerators. In the first place, refrigerator cabinets are manufactured on a mass poduction basis which is economically feasible only when reasonable tolerances are provided for the interfitting of the several components of the cabinet and reasonable variations in cabinet dimensions and squareness are accepted. Secondly, refrigerator cabinets are heat insulated and are, therefore, generally of spaced wall construction; the conventional construction approach is to provide an outer shell, an inner liner formed to provide a storage compartment and heat insulation material within the wall space between the shell and the liner. Only a minimal supporting arrangement is provided between the shell and the liner in such cabinets to minimize the conduction of heat to the interior of the cabinet. These two factors, namely allowable manufacturing tolerances and minimal liner support, result in substantial variations in the configuration of the liner and its position relationship with respect to the several walls of the shell. Prior attempts to mount a movable drawer structure in a domestic refrigerator cabinet by attaching stationary support tracks directly to the cabinet liner have met with this problem of maintaining alignment and parallelism of the tracks. In such instances the results have included poor operating, unreliable drawer structures which proved to be more of an irritation than a convenience to the refrigerator user.

It therefore is the principal object of this invention to reliably support a movable drawer structure in a cabinet in such a manner that the drawer structure operates easily, even when fully loaded. A further object of the invention is the provision of a drawer supporting arrangement, the assembly of which is amenable to the mass production techniques employed in refrigerator cabinet manufacture.

In accordance with this invention the horizontal tracks, or trackways, which form the basic support elements for the drawer are associated With connecting tie bars, or members, which initially determine and positively maintain alignment and parallelism of the tracks. The assembly of tracks and tie bars, which can be viewed as a quadrilateral frame, is supported from the cabinet shell, but in spaced relationship to the walls thereof, and in the case of a spaced wall cabinet is supported independently of the cabinet liner, although inside the liner. At the front ends of the tracks are provided heat insulating support bracks by means of which the support frame is secured to the forward edges of the cabinet shell at the access opening for the cabinet. The inherent flexibility of the shell about the opening is taken advantage of in that any misalignment between the drawer support frame and the shell is corrected by distorting the shell to fit the support frame. Likewise, the forward edges of the cabinet liner are secured to and caused to conform to the dimension requirements of the frame by attaching this portion of the liner to the heat insulating support brackets.

Support for the rear ends of the drawer tracks are provided by one or more heat insulating support members, each of which is connected to the frame and to the rear wall of the cabinet shell. These members pass through clearance openings in the rear wall of the cabinet liner in such a manner that their position and the positions of the drawer tracks are unaffected by reasonable and acceptable variations and distortions in the liner. Moreover, the connection provided between the cabinet shell and the support frame has a variable position nature so that variations or distortions in the cabinet shell do not require distortion of the support frame in order to effect the connection and support the frame from the shell. In other words, the frame, including the parallel support tracks, remains rigid during assembly and the connection to the shell permits the shell to assume whatever position, with respect to the frame, the particular configuration of the shell may dictate.

In this manner positive support for the drawer tracks is provided which is not influenced by variations in the configurations of the cabinet wall members; in spaced wall cabinets, neither by the shell nor by the liner. In addition, the improved support does not materially reduce the heat insulating characteristics of the cabinet, so its usefulness for refrigeration purposes is not impaired.

Further objects, advantages and features of the invention will be made apparent by the following detailed description of the invention in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of a. domestic refrigerator cabinet having a movable drawer structure with which this invention is used;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the drawer portion of the cabinet illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional View through the same portion of the refrigerator, which view is taken generally as indicated by the line III-III in FIG. 2; and,

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the principal components employed to support the drawer trackways within the cabinet of FIGS. 1 to 3 with portions of the cabinet being shown in phantom.

The refrigerator cabinet illustrated in FIG. 1 and identified generally by the reference numeral 10 is provided with upper and lower doors 1-1 and 12 providing access to food storage chambers therein. The refrigerator diifers from more conventional present day refrigerators by having a movable drawer structure, indicated generally by the reference numeral 13, disposed in a middle, or waist, portion of the cabinet. The purpose of this drawer structure is to render more readily accessible certain foodstuffs, such as meats, vegetables and dairy products, which are stored in containers 14 and a basket 15 forming a part of the drawer structure.

The drawer structure 13 is movable into and out of the interior of the cabinet 10 and is provided with an insulated 'aspects of the cabinet in the region of the drawer structure 13 are illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. The walls of the cabinet 10 are of conventional construction and are formed by an outer shell 17 of sheet metal or the like,

' and an inner liner 18 which has the walls thereof spaced from the outer shell 17 to provide a space for heat insulation 19 therebetween. The inner liner 18 is formed of light weight sheet metal to form a front opening compartment 21. The compartment 21 surrounds the food storage chamber accessible through door 11 and also receives, in the lower portion thereof, the drawer structure 13. Suitable means (not shown) are provided for refrigerating the contents of compartment 21.

The drawer structure 13 includes a bottom pan for supporting the containers 1'4 and which, together, with a pair of guide bars 22 disposed on opposite sides of the pan, is secured to the insulating drawer front 16. The guide bars 22 form part of an extensible slide system which also includes a pair of movable extension channels 23 and a pair of stationary glide tracks 24, which serve as trackways for the extension channels 23. As is perhaps best illustrated in FlG. 1, when the drawer structure is moved out of the cabinet 10 the guide bars move forwardly in the extension channels 23 between rollers provided on the channels for this purpose and, in addition, the extension channels 23 ride forward in the stationary trackways 24. In this manner a forward extending supporting system is provided which permits the drawer structure 13 to move completely out of the refrigerator cabinet 10, rendering all regions of the containers 14 readily accessible to the user. When the drawer is returned to its closed position extension channels 23 move rearwardly in trackways 24 and bars 23 slide in the extension channels, thereby telescoping the supporting system into the compartment 21.

It should be apparent that, in order for the extensible supporting system described above to function freely and smoothly, alignment of the stationary trackways 24- should be accurately maintained. In other words, a parallel relationship should be maintained between the two trackways 24 and these trackways should remain substantially horizontal even under the tilting forces imposed when the drawer structure 13 is heavily laden with food products and is moved to its forwardmost position.

In accordance with conventional construction techniques the stationary trackways could be secured directly to the side walls of the cabinet liner 18. Following this practice, however, would not result in a reliable and smoothly working drawer support. Being of light weight sheet metal, the liner 18 is subject to being distorted, i.e. becoming misshapen during handling incident to assembly into the cabinet, so that the side walls thereof cannot be relied upon to be parallel. Moreover, in accordance with good refrigerator design practice, a minimal connection support is provided for the liner 18 to reduce heat leakage thereto, so the liner is not reliably capable of supporting the drawer structure 13 nor of maintaining a sufliciently high degree of parallelism between the stationary trackways 24.

In accordance with this invention structural means other than the liner 18 and the shell 17 are relied upon for maintaining parallelism of the trackways 24. Further in accordance with this invention, support for the trackways is derived from the cabinet shell 17 rather than the liner 18 because the former is generally made of a heavier sheet material, is more rigidly reinforced and is, therefore, better capable of supporting the moving weight of the drawer structure 13. As can best be seen in FIG. 3, the trackways 24 are disposed in spaced relationship with the side walls of the liner 18. The rear ends of the trackways 24 are secured to a rigid tie bar 26, which is preferably formed of a stamped piece of sheet metal having its ends bent around and welded, as indicated at 27, or otherwise secured to the outer surfaces of the trackways 24. The tie bar 26 determines and maintains the desired spacing of the rear ends of the trackways 24.

The spacing between the forward ends of the trackways 24 is accurately determined and maintained by means of two spacer members, or arms, 23 which are joined to the forward ends of the trackways by means of two support brackets 29 disposed at either side of the cabinet opening through which the drawer structure 13 moves. The support brackets 2% are also secured to the forward spaced edges of the cabinet shell 17 and to the cabinet liner fit, as by means of screws indicated respectively at 31 and 32, and assist in positioning and supporting the liner 18 in spaced relationship with the shell 17. In order to minimize the amount of heat conveyed to the interior of the cabinet HP the brackets 29 are preferably formed of a material having low heat conductivity. Glass fiber reinforced resin material molded to the desired configuration is well suited for forming the brackets 29 as such materials not only have low heat conductivity but possess high strength.

In order for the spacer arms 28 to be effective in accurately positioning the forward ends of the trackways 24 with respect to each other close tolerances should be maintained for the spacer bars 28 and the brackets 29 with which they are associated. This is easily accomplished by virtue of the nature of these components. It will be noted from FIGS. 2 and 3 that each ofthe spacer arms 28 is secured at its ends to the brackets 22 by means of screws 33, or similar fasteners. The holes provided in the spacer arms 28 and in the brackets 29 for receiving the screws 33 can be die-punched or drilled with the aid of a fixture, so their relative location and their size can be accurately determined. A tight, non-adjustable fit should be provided between the screws 33 and the holes through which they pass so that there is no slippage or movement between the arms 28 and the brackets 25 either during or after assembly. Inasmuch as the brackets 29 are molded, accurate control can be maintained over their configuration as well as the distances between the screws 33 and the intermediate portions thereof to which the trackways 2 4. are attached by means of screws 34.

It will be noted, then, that the spacer bars 28, the brackets 2?, the trackways 24 and the tie bar 26 form, in effect, a frame which is capable of insuring parallelism of the two trackways 24. This frame is relatively rigid but could be distorted or twisted unless provision were made for supporting it within the cabinet 10 in such a manner that it is unaffected by the configurations of the liner l8 and the shell 17, which can be expected to vary from one cabinet to another, particularly when the cabinets are produced on a mass production basis where certain distortions of these components must, within limits, be tolerated. As mentioned previously, the forward ends of the trackways 24 are connected to the forward edges of the side walls of the shell 17 by means of screws 31, fastening through flange portions of the shell and through outer portions of the support brackets 29. The spacing between the brackets 29 is accurately determined by the spacer arms 28. Any variations or distortions in the cabinet shell 17 can be compensated for by distorting these edge portions of the shell to cause them to line up with, or mate with, the corresponding portions of the brackets 29. That portion of the shell surrounding the front access opening to the cabinet is relatively flexible so as to permit this distortion of the shell. Likewise, variations in the spacings of the side walls of the liner 18 can be corrected by distorting this forward edge portion of the liner 1% when the screws 32 are driven to secure the liner to the brackets 29. By this arrangement, a positive, non-heat conducting, support is provided for the front ends of the trackways 24, which support is unaffected by variations in the dimensions of the shell 17 and the liner 18'.

The spacer arms 28 and the brackets 29 are covered by a decorative breaker frame 35 which surrounds the cabinet opening through which drawer structure 13 moves. The breaker frame 35 is preferably molded from a rigid, heat insulating plastic material and the vertical legs of the frame are shaped to extend between the front edges of the liner 18 and the shell 17 to close the space therebetween. An inner portion of each vertical leg of the breaker frame 35 can be disposed between one of the tracks 24 and the adjacent bracket 29 to enable the breaker frame to be held in place by means of the same screws, 34-, which fasten the tracks 24 to the brackets 29.

Support of the rear ends of the channels 24 is, in accordance with this invention, handled in a somewhat diiferent manner. In this region of the cabinet, the liner 18, to some extent, and the shell 17, to a greater extent, possess a degree of rigidity which renders it impractical, or at least undesirable, to attempt to distort these cabinet components to correct for deviations from desired configurations. In accordance with this invention one or more support blocks, or members, 36 are provided for supporting the rear ends of the trackways 24 from the back wall of the shell 17. These blocks 36 are preferably molded from plastic or other material having low heat conductivity and are mounted by means of bolts 37, or other suitable fasteners, to the inner surface of the rear wall of the shell 17. These blocks project forwardly through clearance openings 38 provided therefor in the rear wall of the cabinet liner 18 and are secured to the trackway tie bar 26 by means of bolts, or similar fasteners, 39. The openings in the rear wall of the shell 17 through which the bolts 37 pass are, as shown in FIGS, 2 and 3, substantially larger than the shanks of the bolts 37 so as to permit variable positioning of the support blocks 36 sideways with respect to the shell wall. It is also desirable that the openings in the tie bar 26 through which bolts 39 pass be elongated, as shown in FIG. 4, or otherwise enlarged with respect to the shanks of these bolts so as to permit variable positioning fasten ing of the tie bar to the blocks 36. This insures that the allowable variations in the inner liner will not adversely affect the tie bar location within said liner.

During assembly of the supporting system for the drawer 13 in the cabinet the bolts 37 and 39 securing the support blocks 36 respectively to the cabinet shell and the tie bar 26 are threaded into the support blocks but are not tightened. During assembly of the supporting means for the forward ends of the trackways 24, i.e., the brackets 29 and the spacer arms 23, the rear ends of the trackways 24 and the support blocks 36 float with respect to each other and with respect to the cabinet liner 18 and the cabinet shell 17, thus permitting the trackways 24 to assume a position of squareness with respect to the front supporting members 29. Following securement of the components at the front of the cabinet, the bolts 37 and 3? are tightened to complete securement of the trackways 24 within the cabinet. Thus, a positive supporting connection can be provided between the tie bar 26 and the cabinet shell 17 even though the side walls of the shell 17 and the side walls of the liner 18 are not parallel to the trackways 24. In other words, the connection between the trackways 24 and the shell 17 is made with these components in whatever relative positions the shape of the shell 17 may diceta-te and the parallelism of the trackways 24 is maintained by the frame structure described above.

It is considered important that the support blocks 36 extend parallel to trackways 24- rather than at right angles thereto. In other words, the support blocks 36 are preferably connected to the rear wall of the cabinet shell 17 rather than to the side walls of the shell. Were this supporting connection made to the cabinet side Walls,

tightening of the screws 37 and 39 would likely result in shifting of rear ends of the trackways 24, causing them to assume the configuration of the cabinet shell 17 and possibly destroying their parallelism. With the structure shown, tightening of the screws 37 and 39, at most, applies an axially directed stress to the trackways 24 which does not tend to change the alignment of the trackways 24.

While the invention has been disclosed by reference to but a single embodiment thereof, it wll be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.

What is claimed is:

l. A front opening cabinet having upright side and rear walls and a compartment therein, a drawer horizontally movable in said compartment in spaced relationship to said cabinet walls, a pair of horizontal trackways disposed in said compartment in spaced relationship to the side walls of said cabinet, said drawer being mounted in said trackways, a rigid tie bar connected to the rear ends of said trackways for maintaining a predetermined spacing between said trackway ends, at least one rigid spacer arm horizontally disposed at the cabinet opening in a position vertically spaced from said drawer, means fixedly connecting said arm to forward portions of said trackways and to said cabinet side walls for maintaining a predetermined spacing between the forward ends of said trackways and for supporting said trackways in said cabinet, at least one additional support member extending from the rear wall of said cabinet to said tie bar for supporting the rear ends of said trackways, said support member being adjustable transversely of said trackways into selected position relative to said tie bar and to said cabinet rear wall, and means securing said support member to said tie bar and to said cabinet rear wall in selected position and providing variable position connection of the tie bar to said rear wall whereby a durable connection which maintains the positional relationship of said trackways can be provided between said cabinet walls and said trackways although there be misalignment between said trackways and said walls.

2. A front opening cabinet having upright side and rear walls and a compartment therein, a drawer horizontally movable in said compartment in spaced relationship to said cabinet walls, a pair of horizontal trackways disposed in said compartment in spaced relationshi to the side walls of said cabinet, said drawer being mounted in said trackways, a rigid tie bar connected to the rear ends of said trackways for maintaining a predetermined spacing between said trackway ends, a pair of rigid spacer arms horizontally disposed at the cabinet opening in positions respectively above and below said. drawer, means fixedly connecting said arms to forward portions of said trackways and to said cabinet side walls for maintaining a predetermined spacing between the forward ends of said trackways and for supporting said trackways in said cabinet, at least one support member extending forwardly from the rear wall of siad cabinet and providing support for the rear ends of said trackways, said support memher and said rear ends of said trackways being adjustable relative to each other transversely of said trackways into selected position, and means securing said support member to said cabinet rear wall in selected position and providing variable position fastening of one to the other whereby a durable connection which maintains the positional relationship of said trackways can be provided between said cabinet walls and said trackways although there be misalignment between said trackways and said walls.

3. A refrigerator cabinet including an outer shell, an inner liner spaced from said shell and formed to provide a compartment, said shell and said liner having spaced forward edge portions at an access opening for said compartment, a drawer structure adapted to move horizontally in said compartment, a pair of horizontal glide tracks for said drawer structure, said tracks being disposed in said compartment at the sides thereof, a rigid tie bar connected to said tracks for maintaining a predetermined spacing between the rear ends of the tracks, a pair of brackets formed of material having low heat conductivity, said brackets being disposed at opposite sides of said access opening nad having portions thereof secured to adjacent portions of said shell, at least one rigid member connecting said brackets and fixing the spacing between the brackets, means securing the forward ends of said tracks to said brackets, and means supporting the rear ends of said tracks in said shell, said supporting means including at least one member formed of material having low heat conductivity mounted on the inner surface of said shell and projecting through an opening provided therefor in said liner.

4. A refrigerator cabinet including an outer shell, an inner liner spaced from said shell and formed to provide a compartment, said shell and said liner having spaced forward edge portions at an access opening for said compartment, a drawer structure adapted to move horizontally in said compartment, a pair of horizontal glide tracks for said drawer structure, said tracks being disposed in said compartment at the sides thereof, a rigid tie bar connected to said tracks for maintaining a predetermined spacing between the rear ends of the tracks, a pair of brackets formed of material having low heat conductivity, said brackets being disposed at opposite sides of said access opening and having portions thereof secured to adjacent portions of said shell, a pair of rigid members connecting said brackets and fixing the spacing between the brackets, said members being disposed, respectively, above and below said drawer structure, means securing the forward ends of said tracks to said brackets, and means supporting the rear ends of said tracks in said shell, said last-named means including at least one member formed of material having low heat conductivity mounted on the inner surface of said shell and projecting through an opening provided therefor in said liner.

5. A refrigeratoor cabinet including an outer shell, an inner liner spaced from said shell and formed to provide a compartment, said shell and said liner having spaced forward edge portions at an access opening for said compartment, a drawer structure adapted to move horizontally in said compartment, a pair of horizontal glide tracks for said drawer structure, said tracks being disposed in said compartment at the sides thereof, a rigid tie bar connected to the rear ends of said tracks for maintaining a predetermined spacing between the rear ends of the tracks, a pair of brackets formed of material having low heat conductivity, said brackets being disposed at opposite sides of said access opening and having portions thereof secured to adjacent portions of said shell, a pair of rigid spacer arms connecting said brackets and fixing the spacing between the brackets, said arms being disposed, respectively, above and below said drawer structure, means securing the forward ends of said tracks to said brackets, means supporting the rear ends of said tracks in said shell, said last-named means including at least one member formed of material having low heat conductivity extending between the rear wall of said shell and said tie bar and projecting through an opening provided therefor in said liner, and variable position connecting means fastening said member to said tie bar and to said shell whereby the positional relationship between the tracks is maintained although there be misalignment between the walls of said shell and said tracks.

6. A refrigerator cabinet including an outer shell, an inner liner spaced from said shell and formed to provide a compartment, a drawer horizontally movable in said compartment, a pair of horizontal trackways disposed in said compartment, said drawer being mounted in said trackways, means connecting the forward ends of the trackways to the forward portion of the cabinet, a rigid tie bar connected to the rear ends of said trackways for maintaining a predetermined spacing between said trackway ends, means supporting the rear ends of said trackways in said shell, said last-named means including at least one member formed of material having low heat conductivity extending between the rear wall of said shell and said tie bar and projecting through an opening provided therefor in said liner, and further including connecting means fastening said member to said shell and connecting means fastening said member to said tie bar, one of said connecting means providing adjustment be tween the parts fastened thereby transversely of said trackways, thereby providing variable position connection of the tie bar to said rear wall, whereby a durable connection may be provided between said shell and said track ways although there be misalignment therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,614,167 Wilkinson Jan. 11, 1927 1,628,083 Vogt May 10, 1927 2,241,053 Brightm-an May 6, 1194]. 2,399,963 Vinton May 7, 1946 

